Appendix 6

Richard III’s Epitaph

George Buck’s Latin Text

George Buck’s History of the Life and Reigne of Richard the Third is extant in two versions: a posthumous edition published in London in 1647, and reprinted in facsimile with an introduction by A.R. Myers at Wakefield in 1973¹ (hereinafter ‘Buck 1647’), and an earlier and more accurate text which dates from 1619, but which was not published until the twentieth century, in the edition by Kincaid² (hereinafter ‘Buck 1619’). The following (with one modification – where the text of Buck 1647 appears to give a grammatically more accurate reading)³ is the epitaph as published in Buck 1619. The punctuation is modern.⁴ Variant readings from Buck 1647, and from Sandford are supplied in the footnotes. The greater part of the Latin text of the epitaph is agreed by all the published sources, but there are a number of minor variations, making it somewhat difficult to establish a completely authoritative version.⁵

Epitaphium Regis Ricardi⁶ tertii, Sepulti apud⁷ Leicestriam, iussu et sumptibus Sancti⁸ Regis Henrici Septimi⁹

Hic ego quem vario tellus sub marmore claudit
Tertius a iusta¹⁰ voce Ricardus¹¹ eram.
Tutor eram patriae,¹² patruus¹³ pro iure nepotis
Dirupta, tenui regna Britanna fide.
Sexaginta dies binis dumtaxat¹⁴ ademptis
Aestatesque¹⁵ tuli tunc¹⁶ mea sceptra duas.¹⁷
Fortiter in bello certans¹⁸ desertus ab Anglis
Rex Henrice tibi septime succubui.
At sumptu pius ipse tuo sic ossa decoras¹⁹
Regem olimque facis regis honore coli
Quattuor²⁰ exceptis iam tantum quinque²¹ bis annis
Acta trecenta²² quidem lustra salutis erant.²³
Anteque²⁴ Septembris undena luce Kalendas²⁵
Reddideram²⁶ rubrae²⁷ iura petita²⁸ rosae.²⁹
At mea, quisquis eris, propter commissa precare,³⁰
Sit minor ut precibus poena levata³¹ tuis.

Buck’s published ‘translation’ of Richard III’s epitaph

In the early nineteenth century the epitaph was reprinted in John Nichols’ History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester. His text, complete with notes, appeared also in the additions Nichols made to Hutton’s The Battle of Bosworth Field, second edition.³² There, Nichols also supplied the following versified English translation, which he ascribed to Buck.³³ Although the translation is rather free (and indeed, sometimes inaccurate), hitherto this appears to have been the only published English version of the epitaph.

I who am laid beneath this marble stone,
Richard the Third, possessed the British throne.
My Country’s guardian in my nephew’s claim,
By trust betray’d³⁴ I to the kingdom came.
Two years and sixty days, save two, I reign’d;
And bravely strove in fight; but, unsustain’d
My English left me in the luckless field,
Where I to Henry’s arms was forc’d to yield.
Yet at his cost my corse this tomb obtains,
Who piously interr’d me, and ordains
That regal honours wait a king’s remains.
Th’year thirteen hundred ‘twas and eighty four³⁵
The twenty-first of August, when its power
And all its rights I did to the Red Rose restore.
Reader, whoe’er thou art, thy prayers bestow,
T’atone my crimes and ease my pains below.³⁶

The Epitaph of Catherine of France (widow of Henry V)³⁷

This epitaph is comparable in date, metre and length to that of Richard III. Note the use of direct address in line 2, and the use of the word Britanna in lines 7 and 16.

Hic Katherina iacet Francorum filia regis,
Heres & regni, Carole sexte, tui.
Henrici quinti thalamo bis leta iugali
Nam sic vir duplici clarus honore fuit:
Iure suo Anglorum, Katherine iure triumphans
Francorum obtinuit ius, decus imperij.
Grata venit letis felix regina Britannis
Perque dies celebrant quatuor ore Deum.
Edidit Henricum genebunda puerpera regem.
Cuius in imperio Francus & Anglus erat.
Non sibi sed regno felici sidere natum;
Sed patri & matri religione parem.
Post ex Owino Tiddero tertia proles,
Nobilis Edmundus te Katherina beat:
Septimus Henricus quo non prestantior alter
Filius Edmundi, gemma Britanna fuit.
Felix ergo uxor, mater, ter filia felix,
Ast avia hec felix terque quaterque fuit.

One of the epitaphs from the tomb of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York:³⁸

Septimus hic situs est Henricus, gloria regum
Cunctorum, ipsius qui tempestate fuerunt,
Ingenio atque opibus gestarum & nomine rerum,
Accessere quibus nature dona benigne:³⁹
Frontis honos, facies augusta, heroica forma,
Iunctaque ei suavis coniunx perpulchra, pudica,
Et secunda fuit: felices prole parentes,
Henricum quibus octavum terra Anglia debes.